So last week I was talking about how Christmas tends to take any song with a winter theme and try to claim it as one of its own. I brought up the point that one of the things I like about the Christmas season is it expands the selection and styles of music that I listen to. When I discussed that with God, she actually got kind of wistful on me.

She says that even while languages tended to tear apart the bonds of humanity, breaking us off into little fiefdoms, music still mostly managed to bring us back together.

Then we discovered electricity and electronics. Ever since then music has gone through its own Tower of Babble phase. As a species we’re no longer just listening to music. We’re listening to Rock, or Jazz, or Country, or Hip Hop, or, I don’t know, Zydeco, or any of dozens of other genres and micro-genres. Music now has as much ability to break us apart as it does to bring us together.

She finds that sad. On the other hand, she says you can take away Celt-a-delic Rock’n’Reel only over her dead body.